


The Farthest Star

by kidize



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 07:24:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1015777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kidize/pseuds/kidize
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lumos is a country, who has long avoided outside help and wars, but right after their most important power source started to decline, they sent their one-and-only human-Lumian hybrid to find Azmuth, who can probably help them - like the legends say. Azmuth has been missing for months and the only link to him is Earth and the Omnitrix, so the hybrid's job is to find the link, but unfortunately... someone finds her first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trust me, this is no oridinary OC fanfiction. I want it to be soothed into something, and not just love at first sight. I'm gonna make this all touchy-feely, you know what I'm saying? Okay. Any feedback is HIGHLY appreciated! Thank you!

'You must complete this task with the utmost precision and care.' explained the second commander of the army of Lumos. 'For your and all of our lives depend on the completion of this quest.'  
He placed a small cube in his daughter's hand. As he closed the palm around it, his hands started to shake. The girl patted the commanders arm and smiled. 'It shall be done without any hesitation nor distraction. I promise you that, Father.'

  
The commander's shaking calmed slightly, but he still looked worried. He stepped back to stand alongside his soldiers. 'Good luck, Clarissa.' He saluted, the troops following suit. Clarissa bowed her head slightly and entered the capsule. 'Turn on ADER-6.9989.' She telepathically commanded the capsule's CPU. It responded immediately.  
'Close door on ADER-6.9989.' Clarissa thought, as she buckled up and got comfortable. She pressed some buttons above her after the doors closed, locking it completely.  
’Set coordinates to planet Earth, Solar System, galaxy Milky Way.’ She directed to the CPU and the see-through blue screen in front of her showed a blue-green planet, which was completely different from Lumos’ white and blue crystallized surface.

  
’Beginning flight course towards planet Earth,’ said the computer AI, ’flight officered by Cadet Clarissa Addams. Turning on air thrusters. Turning on air pressure tuner. Beginning flight.’ The capsule gained power and thrusted itself up into the sky, gaining speed by the second.  
The only thoughts filling the vessel were the thought of succeeding. Clarissa’s home, especially her father, have trusted her with the cube – probably the most powerful cube in all of existence in the universe. It’s the source of power to her home planet, but slowly it has started to decline for the past few months. So, that’s why this mission was given to her – to find Azmuth, the creator of the Omnitrix, and find a suloution to her planet’s misery. If the planet goes too long without the cube, it will start to fade. The relocating option has been discussed, but the planet is too valuable to just be dumped. There still is hope out there. That’s why she must complete this without any distractions by finding out the location of Azmuth on Earth.

  
Suddenly, the vessel started to gain massive speed, but the pressure still seemed to be the same inside. Clarissa’s eyes were glued to the screen, where it was shown that she was passing through Milky Way and finally through the Solar System. She could recognize Earth right away. At first it seemed like a very miniscule planet compared to the others, but as time passed, it gained size. A smile formed on the girl’s face. ’This is it.’

  
The capsule stopped and the blue screen instantly turned dark red with words of warning covering the whole screen, but making room for the tracker pointed at an approaching object. ’Warning, warning, unidentified object is approaching in high speed. Dodging – impossible.’ Said the AI calmly.  
’What!?’ Clarissa yelped, ’what do you mean it’s impossible? Turn on emergency thrusters!’  
’Negative, thrusters have been jammed by radioactive waves coming... from... Earth.’  
’Who could-?’ she paused, looking at her situation. Someone, or something, is coming at her, fast. Someone has jammed her thrusters, including her emergency thrusters. The only option now was..

  
’Turn on emergency suit mode!’  
’Affirmative,’ The AI spoke, leaving Clarissa’s face light up in glee – there was still hope. ’activating emergency suit mode.’  
Few seconds before the impact, the vessel started to merge with the space suit Clarissa was wearing, starting with her hands. It went up her arms, and created a protective helmet around her head. After the merging process finished, Clarissa was covered in strong protective armor – it’s design signature of Lumos’ battle armour. Few seconds later, the object hit Clarissa, throwing her towards Earth. The impact left her breathless and few moments later, the gravity started pulling her down. The speed increased rapidly and Clarissa started to feel a slight burning sensation at her back and shoulders – the friction, created by the sudden speed increase, started to slowly melt away her armour.  
She couldn’t think of anything but the pain its causing her, and the possiblity that she’ll fail at her given mission. As soon as she was only 300 metres from the ground, she pressed a small button in her palm and the whole suit crystallized. When Clarissa’s body hit the ground and the crystals shattered off her armour, she felt slight relief that she was actually okay. She expected much worse.

  
But her relief was short-lived, as she noticed a red flame ball heading towards her. She jumped to her left, dodging the flame. She crawled a bit further away from the flame and pressed a button near her throat, which made the helmet shrink into her uniform, and letting out her coal black hair. Clarissa now concentrated her teal blue eyes at the fire. What was that? Who is trying so hard to kill her?

  
The fire seemed odd, as if it was held alive by someone furious nearby. A voice startled her. ’I never thought it would be so hard to kill one simple girl.’ She looked behind her and finally saw her doom – a boy her age with white hair, red eyes, jeans and a red jacket.  
  
’Who are you?’ Clarissa asked, frowning her eyebrows.  
  
’Oh, I guess ’tis alright to know my name few minutes before being slaughtered,’ he smirked and crossed his arms, ’my name is Albedo, my „fair“ maiden, but have no worries, for I already know your name.’  
  
Clarissa slowly stood up, eyes still glued at her newlyfound enemy. ’You can’t have it.’  
  
Albedo smirked. ’So, you are already aware what I’m after?’  
  
’It’s almost as obvious as your eye colour. You can’t have it!’  
  
’Yes, I can. If you will not give it to me willingly, I will take it by force.’ He unseleeved his hand, turned his watch and pressed it. Red light beamed the street and a diamond-headed creature was now standing, where Albedo did. He approached Clarissa. ’It’s no use running or fighting. We both know I’m at the upper hand.’  
  
Clarissa started to back away, struggling to form a plan in her head. She has encountered aliens before, but they were only simulations. Head-on attack would be dead-on stupid, so she started to run the opposite direction of Albedo, searching for massive objects to telepathically throw at him.  
  
’Cowardice is virtue to some, I guess,’ Albedo scoffed and started to run after, throwing diamond shards at her some times.  
They ran through a typical Earthern caul de sac. Thankfully, it was nighttime, so most of the humans were inside sleeping, but some that witnessed the situation, were loudly backing off to secluded streets.  
  
’If you’re gonna play it like that, then fine,’ he quickly fastened his pace and caught up with Clarissa, grabbing her by the arm. Clarissa screamed in pain. ’When are you gonna learn?’  
  
The captive quickly used the chance and used her telepathy to move a scooter nearby to hit Albedo in the head. The force made him drop her. Some shards fell from his face.  
’You.. You imbecile!’ he growled and landed a punch at her back, when she tried to run away again. If it wasn’t for her armour, her ribs would be fractured by now, but unfortunately some metled pieces of her armour came right off, revealing her skin.  
  
As a reflex, she reached her arm right at a car across the street and pulled it towards her. The car came flying towards the Albedo, knocking him few metres back, hitting him against a tree.  
  
Clarissa pulled herself up and started running. She knew what she needed to do. She had no choice, but to use the power of The Cube. ’Father will probably not like this.’ She sang an unrecognizeable note, which opened a socket in her armour, revealing a black and blue humming cube. She kissed it with her lips and the black-and-blue colour started to spread around her body. After her whole body was transformed, an electric current started to travel over her skin. The cube itself hid beneath her skin. This time she had the courage to confront his enemy.  
  
She turned around and faced Albedo, a electric current whip forming in her hand.  
Albedo seemed amused. ’Well, aren’t we full of surprises?’ He turned his hands into drills, ’Just show me what you got.’  
  
Clarissa raised her whip arm and slashed towards Albedo, who ducked and scarcely missed the current.  
’You’re a fool, Albedo,’ Clarissa spoke, but this time her voice contained an echo, ’never challenge a Lumian, when their planet is at sake.’  
  
’I have no care for any planet for that matter, I only fight for myself. I trust no one.’  
  
’That usually proves as a weakness in most battles in the universe.’  
  
Albedo scoffed. ’What do you know about battles? A Lumian. A young one, in fact. You’ve never had wars, you’ve never had injustice. What do you know about weaknesses?’  
  
’I know more than an baffoon like you!’ Clarissa threw another slash at him, but this time hitting his cheek. Diamond shards hit the ground.  
  
’I guess I underestimated you,’ he said, ’but you seem to have underestimated me.’ He pulled the Omnitrix circle on his chest, turned it and pushed it again. His diamond skin turned fiercer and his suit also spread. ’Ultra Diamondhead!’  
  
Clarissa frowned. She was surprised at the fact that Albedo constantly had some tricks up his sleeve. Questions kept rising in her head: Why does he want the cube so much? How did he know she was coming? The Lumian radars are undetectable.  
  
’Ready to meet your fate, Lumian?’ Albedo smirked, raising his arms, readying his diamond shard launchers.  
  
The girl stared intensely at him, gripping the whip. If she could just time it right, she could dodge those shards without getting hit at all, but she was afraid that he would send another wave right after. She wouldn’t get hurt, but would the suit take that much damage at once?  
  
’Swampfire!’ she heard someone yell, but this time.. it came from behind her.


	2. Turn of Events

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is where the chapter start getting longer. I hope I'm not dragging you people on, or anything like that. I sincerely apologize. Please enjoy this long chapter for there will be more. Trust me.

Clarissa turned and a saw a plant-like alien running towards them, holding fireballs in both of his hands. ’Duck!’ he yelled. Clarissa ducked and the fireballs flew past her and hit Albedo in the face. He fell backwards and tripped into a bush. Clarissa took the chance and backed away from Albedo as quickly as possible. She opened a socket and took out the cube, which was followed by her extraterrestrial powers fading away from her skin, and looked at the confrontation of her new enemy and a new potential ally.

Albedo got up and growled angrily at the alien. ’Ben Tennyson!’

’You’re in the wrong neighbourhood, Albedo,’ Ben snickered back, gathering a fire ball on his left hand, ’you should have thought twice before coming to my hometown.’

’It was not of my intention,’ he glared  and pointed at Clarissa, ’ _she_ lead me here. Otherwise I would have preferred to be as far away from your smell as possible.’

’Oh, come on! I took a shower 3 days ago! It can’t be _that_ bad.’

Clarissa stared at the both of them in confusion, but Albedo caught her glimpse. ’If only you’d died from that explosion I sent you,’ he growled at her.

Swampfire turned to face the girls he had just probably rescued, but was shocked to find that.. ’Weren’t you just an alien few seconds ago?’

’A lumian,’ Albedo said before she could answer herself, ’they absorb energy and use telepathy. They are assumed to be one of the most peaceful races in all of the universe, but,’ he paused and grinned, ’sadly the population is falling into decline recently for reasons she-’

’I can speak for myself, you know,’ Clarissa intervened.

Albedo frowned at the attitude sprung towards him. ’Know your PLACE!’ Diamond shards flew towards the girl, catching her off guard. She struggled to dodge to her right, but was saved by a purple forcefield, forming in front of her, instead.

’That was a close one,’ a girls voice said behind her. She turned to see a tall slender ginger-headed girl with purple glowing eyes, wearing a red shirt with a black vest and jeans. ’Stay down, we got this,’ she reassured Clarissa.

’Gwen, weren’t you supposed to be at math camp?’ Ben raised his eyebrow, staring at the ginger girl.

’Came running here as soon as I was told that a guest of ours will probably be under attack,’ she smiled at Clarissa.

’What do you me-?’ Ben started, but his sentence was cut short by Albedo’s rage.

’Enough!’ he yelled, ’give me the girl and I’ll leave!’

’I’m afraid we can’t do that,’ Gwen started, ’you see, she came here to save her planet, like once when our ancestors visited hers to save our homeplanet.’

’Then,’ he laughed, ’you’ll die along with her!’ He started to send huge amounts of diamond shards towards Gwen – she struggled at first, but still managed to hold up her forcefield.

’Ben, take Clarissa and take her to Grandpa!’ Gwen screamed.

’Huh? Why?’

’He’s expecting her!’

Ben was puzzled, but understood that what his cousin said was probably true. He ran towards Clarissa and placed her over her shoulder. ’Hold on tight.’

’W-Wait, let me go, I wanna run by myself.’

’I’m afraid that’s impossible,’ he said and started running.

’Yo, Ben, where’s our friend?’ a boy with shoulder-length black hair, white shirt, light blue overshirt with a nametag and jeans, started running with him. Ben pointed behind him. ’Cool,’ the boy smirked, ’see ya.’ He turned around his heel and his body transformed him into a mixture of matters.

’Who was that?’ Clarissa asked.

’That’s Kevin Levin – probably the coolest person you’ll ever meet.. after me, of course,’ Ben answered and started to enchance his speed by step.

’How did you know to come to me?’

’It’s what I do, when I see danger. Besides, my home was only few blocks away.’

 ’Thank you,’ she muttered, ’truthfully, I didn’t expect to be attacked so soon.’

’I think you were just caught off guard,’ Ben cheered her up, ’he always attacks when you least expect it, but is he here because of you?’

’No, because of something ancient I took with me. Legends said that whenever the Cube of Everlasting energy would cease to power, a quick look by the legendary genius of that era would fix its damage.’

’You’re talking about Azmuth?’

’Yes, but he’s hidden right now. The only source we have, though, is on this planet.’

’The Plumbers?’ Ben asked, Clarissa replied with a sincere nod. ’Let’s step on it, then.’ He added.

It wasn’t long until they reached a really old motorhome. Ben put Clarissa down and switched into his usual form – a cocky teenager with a craving for chilli fries and Sumo Slammer.

His appearance caught Clarissa off guard. ’You look..’

’-almost exactly like Albedo, but that’s another story and a long one,’ he finished her off with a smirk and went inside the motorhome, followed by Clarissa. ’Grandpa!  We’re here!’

As they stepped in, they were greeted by 5 people – a smiling hawaiian-shirt-wearing Max Tennyson, Ben’s parents - a fit blonde lady named Sandra, with his husband Carl holding her hand, and Gwen’s parents - a serious red-head by the name of Natalie and her husband Frank. It’s almost seemed like a small Tennyson family reunion.

’Am I the only one, who knew nothing, _again_?’ Ben finally said after a small silence.

’Good, you’re finally here,’ Max said, almost completely ignoring what Ben had just said, heading straight to the actual business.

’We were just discussing about what we should do,’ Frank said, folding his arms.

Ben’s mother Sandra walked up to him and pinched his cheek like a mother would, when her son was being naughty. ’Your father and I were discussing this at the dinner table last night, and I also left you a note.’

’Moom..’ Ben groaned, rubbing his cheek afterwards, ’I guess my mind was occupied,’ he added.

’Right,’ Natalie turned to Max, ’I guess an explanation is in order.’

Max nodded and turned to Clarissa. ’As you may know, I have been in contact with your father for the past few days and he has informed about everything. Me and all the Plumbers agreed to help, but something arose, and that’s why you’re here as I decided to get my family involved.’ Clarissa nodded.

’We tried contacting Azmuth at some point,’ he continued, ’but we have no way of actually reaching him. Something might have happened, and we also think your new acquaintance is also behind it, as he attacked you out of nowhere. No one was expecting that as only me, my family and the Plumbers were aware of your approach. We also contacted our contacts at NASA. No one else knew. We think this is no coincidence.’

’That really lives a big hole in my plans,’ Clarissa said, ’is father aware?’

’Yes, we just talked with him and told him of your situation, but we reassured him that you have all the back-up you need at Earth.’

The motorhome’s door opened, Gwen and Kevin entering, looking very exhausted.

’Did you drive him away?’ asked a but-now silent Carl.

’Yes,’ Kevin reassured him, ’he stormed off angrily, when he could get past us,’ he looked at Max, ’thanks for the boost.’ He replied with a nod.

’Since we’re all here, I guess it’s safe to reveal our plan,’ Max started to speak as soon as Kevin and Gwen sat down and calmed down.

’Clarissa will be under our protection until further notice, do you understand that?’ Sandra said. The teenage trio nodded.

’Will this mean my mission is on a halt?’ Clarissa asked, her eyebrows showing a sign of nervousness, they nodded.

’Your father knows, and agreed that this is the most secure option, at the moment,’ Frank said, ’but have no worries, we have some plumbers out there looking for any sign of Azmuth.’

’But what of my mission? I just can’t stand here and do absoloutely nothing!’

’But Clarissa, dear, if you go wander about all by yourself, what would be the outcome, especially if you stand up against Albedo all by yourself?’ Sandra added, showing concern in your voice.

’I can do it, I have the cube!’

Max shook his head. ’You know that will not help for long,’ he said.

Natalie approached her, placed her hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. ’Don’t worry. We decided that you’d stay at our place. Our place is a sanctuary, under the protection of my daughter. She will look after you until they find Azmuth.’ Clarissa stayed silent and looked away.

’“Working alone is never the way“,’ Max said, ’wasn’t that what your father used to say?’  Clarissa nodded.

’Don’t worry, we have you under our wings,’ Natalie said before returning to her husband.

’Now that this is settled,’ Carl said, forming a smile on his face,’I think it’s time to go home, now. Afterall, some of us need to go to work tomorrow.’

’Gwen, do you want to stay home or go back to camp?’ Frank asked his daughter.

’Oh, I’ll stay home. I think Clarissa needs company. Math camp can wait another year.’

They left the motorhome and approached their cars. Everyone said their final good-bye’s to Max.

’I’ll be back in a few days or weeks, I’m not sure,’ Max said, waving at his family, ’but keep her company.’

While Ben went with his own parents, Gwen, Kevin and Clarissa went with Gwen’s parents.

In the car, Gwen and her mother kept talking about her attendance at the Social Politics seminar next week. Her mother was worried that she’d not make it, but Gwen told her that she’ll attend it, because it was her mother, who paid from her own wallet for her to be there.

’Don’t worry, Clarissa,’ said Frank behind the wheel, when she saw Clarissa’s concerned face from the rearview mirror, ’Ben and Kevin can keep you company. Maybe you’ll teach Ben something, although he’d rather not do anything on a summer holiday, especially, when it’s ending in a few weeks.’

’Mom, do you still have those clothes I wanted to give to Megan before she left? I think they’d fit Clarissa.’ Gwen said.

’Yeah, they’re in the attic,’ her mother replied, ’they’d be more comfortable than that disfigured armour.’

’It’s actually able to fix itself, but over time,’ Clarissa told her.

’Where did your ship go, by the way?’ Kevin finally added himself into the conversation, ’I thought maybe I’d bring it back with me, but it wasn’t there.’

’I’m wearing it,’ she replied.

Everyone stared at her in confusion. The parents gave each other puzzled looks. Gwen muttered ’How is _that_ kind of technology possible?’

Along the whole car-drive to the Tennyson’s place, Gwen couldn’t stop asking questions concerning Lumos. Everything from fashion to technology, power to food. She had travelled loads of planets during her current life, but had never heard of a planet like that. Clarissa couldn’t reply to most of these questions, because..

’The air outside our buildings is too dangerous to breathe right now,’ she said, ’our atmosphere is slowly pressurizing our planet, killing dozens of people, who even take a small step outside. If you’re out there more than 5 minutes, you slowly start feeling something squeezing you into mush, what you will eventually turn into.’

’It’s because of that cube, isn’t it?’ Kevin asked, ’what a dangerous piece of-’

’How big is the pressure out on your planet?’ Gwen asked.

’It’s very changeable – it may drop 200 ft underwater pressure instantly without you knowing it. No one knows why this occurs now. That cube has kept our civilization safe, until now. Now we rely on our ships and our technology of depressurizing,’ she replied.

’How do you, like, manage to breathe Earth air? Do you also have oxygen?’ Kevin asked, finally showing curiosity.

Clarissa laughed. ’Yes, but we’re too used to breathing synthezised oxygen that we couldn’t bare living in Earth’s circumstances.’

’Then how are you-?’

’I have human lungs. My mother was a human plumber.’

Everyone smiled, especially Frank. ’Now, why does that sound like a familiar story?’

During rest of the car drive, silence mostly filled the car as most of them were too tired to even speak. Kevin was dropped off near his car he had parked few blocks away from Albedo’s battlefield, to keep his car from being wrecked. Again.

Gwen sent him off with a human interaction of a kiss. The only person that was indifferent was Gwen’s mother, who still felt that Kevin was too dangerous to be with Gwen.

After another few minutes of a car drive, they had finally reached the Tennyson house. Clarissa struggled a bit with the door, trying to telepathically open it, but she was shot back into reality, when Gwen opened the door for her – she was not back at home.

’Me and your dather are going to discuss some business in the kitchen,’ Natalie said to Gwen,’you two go upstairs, look for some Pjamas for Clarissa and set the matress down that I got for you last christmas.’

Gwen nodded and lead Clarissa upstairs. Her room was the farthest down the hall. ’This is my room, sorry for the mess.’ Gwen introduced as she took some books off her bed and placed them on her desk.

Her room was consisted of a very organized desk, two bookshelves full of books on different subjects ranging from Philosophy to Modern Language History books. Everything in her room was an example of an organized room and not a messy room.

’I’ll be right back, gonna bring the clothes down,’ she said, leaving the room, leaving Clarissa completely at her room’s demise. When Clarissa heard her storming up a raddle, she took her time to survey around the room. She felt slight jealousy at how many colours the room had, completely parallel to what her room looked like back at home.

What, most importantly, caught her eye was a set of pictures stuck on the wall above her desk. Pictures after pictures, filled with various emotions. There was a picture of Gwen with her family, a picture of her with two girls smiling, a picture of her and Kevin, a picture of two 10-year-olds pinching eachother – though smiling, and many other pictures filled with happiness. Creating memories must feel fun to Clarrisa at this point. Of course Clarissa has some memories she had made back at home, but somehow they don’t feel authentic. Everything back at home doesn’t look that goofy. Heck, even the pictures she took with her friends seemed too official. That’s because her kind is used to hide their emotion. They are raised to evolve her species and not for the good sake of their kin.

’Here we go,’ Gwen walked in, a plastic back hovering on a purple disk. She let the bag land on the floor.

Clarissa decided to take a look at her armour. It was supposed to have high durability, but the way it looked right now was kind of depressing. It was partly covered in black soot and whenever she moved, she could feel air brushing against her skin at the back. She was very fortunate she had lived through this impact. When she looked at her arm, where Albedo had shoot her, she noticed that parts of her armour were healing – the AI was finally at work.

Gwen opened the plastic bag with her scissors and took out piles of clothes ranging from jeans to shirts. ’Come, and choose what you like,’ she said.

The Lumian knelt down and looked at the clothes she was offered. It felt kind of exciting – trying out new stuff, especially clothes. She was so used to wearing skin-tight suits that she forgot what was it like wearing real garments, which she had worn, when she was a child.

’What about this top?’ Clarissa said, taking out a bloodred top with straps.

Gwen nodded in approval. ’But put something more on perhaps? Autumn is pretty close and it _will_ get pretty cold.’ She searched through some clothes until she took out a white T-shirt with a long V-neck. ’It will show the top, plus I have always thought it was a good colour combination.’

Clarissa smiled and took the shirt on her lap along with her top, but then her eyes caught something – a material she had never seen before. She took a pair of jeans and touched the surface. It felt very new and weird for the tips of her fingers. ’What material is this?’ she asked.

’Denim. You can have it.’ Gwen smiled.

’Well, that’s it for now, I think,’ Clarissa said as she folded her new clothes together and placing them next to her.

’Oh, you’ll need Pjamas,’ Gwen quickly said and gave her an over-sized white shirt with a huge red dot in the middle, ’I was supposed to give this to Ben for his birthday, but never got the chance. You can also have these cloth shorts.’ She handed the pair to her.

’Thank you, Gwen,’ Clarissa said, ’your family has been very kind to me in such a short period of time. I really don’t know what to say.’

Gwen smiled. ’You can be informal with us, don’t worry. I’m gonna go down stairs and get my luggage.’

’Sure,’ she smiled.

When Gwen left the room, Clarissa stood up and opened the Cube socket. She stared at that little thing. It was funny really, that an entire race is dependant on a tiny thing like this. It still looks as lively as ever, but why is it letting it’s whorshipers down now? Lumian technlogoy can keep their population safe for some time, but time only tells, when people start to realize that their life exectancy is trusted to a hybrid teen, who had barely graduated Military school. She placed it carefully on the desk and resumed to take off her suit.

Using her telekinesis, she concantrated her thoughts on the hidden button on her back. The suit let go of her skin and slowly started to fall down like it was melting. When it reached the floor it turned into a chain-like necklace. Oh, the ever-eveolving technology of Lumos – it never ceases to amaze anyone. One of the chains changed colour. Orange - It’s a sign that her ship is well in repairs. Clarissa sighed in relief, put on the necklace and the Pjammas.

When Gwen came back, they went into filling the matress with air via pump. It took some time, but they eventually managed it. Gwen took out an extra blanket, bed sheets and pillows and placed them on the mattress. ’Tonight you will sleep here, tomorrow my mom will go get the room to the guest’s room done for you,’ Gwen said, getting into her bed. Clarissa tried to place herself comfortably on her new bed, but she was so used to sleeping without a blanket, but with a temperature balancing ceiling above her bed. Having a blanket deemed unnecessary.

The night passed away fast. Although Clarissa had some trouble falling asleep, it didn’t take too long until she fell into a deep sleep. She dreamed of her planet, getting yelled at for being unsuccessful and finally being banished from her planet. It was a nightmare, but still managed to wake up with a clear head. 


	3. Heartbeat

Clarissa stood up and placed her hand on the necklace. It was still there and it hummed, when she touched it, reacting to her warmth. She smiled, because that meant that her ship was doing well.

She changed into the clothes she received from Gwen the day before and headed downstairs. She was greeted by Gwen and Ben, who were relaxing in the Tennyson living room. Gwen was focusing her attention on a paper collection while Ben was staring at a screen with moving.. humans inside of it.

Clarissa’s mouth opened in awe. She had never seen such a thing before. That technology seemed very ancient compared to their holograms. Her father had mentioned that humans had many contraptions unknown to their species, but this discovery felt extraordinary!

She quickly ran towards the couch and shouted out: ’How do you work this machinery? How do you get the screen to project such pictures? Are the humans put into the box to slave for entertainment?’

Ben and Gwen both stared at the curious girl in confusion.

’Well, it’s just a TV,’ Ben said. ’Don’t they have those on your planet?’

’No, I’m afraid not,’ Clarissa said, calming down, ’we… don’t use our technology to entertain, but to keep our people healthy and alive.’

’I'm sorry, but your people sound like you need to relax more often,’ Ben said, ’hey, sit down next to me.’ Clarissa obeyed.

Ben took a small slim black box with buttons on it into his hand, and showed it to Clarissa. ’This is a remote control you use to change the many channels you can choose from. Each channel has many forms of entertainment. For example, I use it to watch Sumo Slammer- probably the most coolest show on the planet. Gwen uses it to watch National Geographic. Kevin uses it to watch shows about cars and stuff.’

’But why don’t you go to the place of the entertainment rather than being confined in your home?’ Clarissa asked curiously.

’Simple word, my friend – laziness. Also, the transportation costs are too humongous to even get there. Plus, some cartoons are not something you can see in person. People use technology to create those.’

’Car..toons? Are they about so-called „cars“?’

Ben laughed. ’Sometimes. Here, I’ll show you an example.’

He pressed a button on the remote and it changed into a channel, where drawings came to life. They moved, they talked, they had emotions. Clarissa was glued to the screen. She, Ben and Gwen sat through a very beautifully visualized movie about two sisters – Anna and Elsa. When the movie ended, she was confused to find Gwen drying her eyes.

’Is there something in your eyes, Gwen? I heard that this planet is very filthy,’ she said.

’Ah, no. It’s just a human emotion called compassion. I felt their pain and their happiness in my heart, and it made me tear up.’

’Quite extraordinary how fictionalized animations can create such emotions in humans.’

’Riss – can I call you Riss? Okay. Let the Ben-Meister teach you how to let it go.’ Ben said as he stood up, ’we will head to the mall today and loosen up in the arcade.’

Gwen’s eyebrows frowned. ’Arcade? Really?’

’It’s the best place to show our humans ways.’ He shrugged.

’Take her to a book store or a library. So she can learn about human history.’

’No, no, we are not gonna „learn“ history. We are going to „make“ history. At the arcade.’

’Grandpa is not gonna like this..’ Gwen shook her head and continued reading her collection of papers.

’Let’s go,’ Ben said as he put on his jacket and gestured Clarissa to follow. They took a bus, what Ben described as a land vehicle used for human transportation. Clarissa asked if they use teleportation, to which Ben had said that they don’t really have the „tech“ for it yet.

Humans seemed so underdeveloped, yet her father trusts them. How can her father trust primate creatures like this? 

After a while, which seemed like forever, they had arrived at a huge building in the centre of the city.

’This is it – the mall,’ Ben declared, spreading his hands wide.

’It doesn't seem that powerful of a building, to tell you the truth,’ Clarissa spoke, ’where is this arcade?’

’It’s inside,’ Ben grabbed Clarissa’s hand, ’let’s go!’

He quickly walked through a crowd of humans, dragging Clarissa along. Soon they arrived at a huge room full of boxes containing moving cartoons, and many various cartoon noises.

’Is this where they create these „cartoons“?’

Ben laughed. ’No, not really. But let me show you.’

They walked towards a box presumably called „Sumo Slammer 2 – The Slamming“. Ben took out some phony silver currency and made the machine swallow it. The box reacted and started to change pictures.

’How extraordinary!’ Clarissa cheered.

’Riss, can we make a deal?’ Ben said as he was moving the controllers of the box, making the box change Pictures every time.

’Sure, what type of deal?’

’I’ll let you play, if you start saying „awesome“ instead of „extraordinary“,’ he smiled at her.

His smile made the girl’s heart flutter and she shyly nodded. ’Awesome,’ she smiled back at him.

After a few hours at the arcade, Clarissa finally got the hang of the game, and they had won enough tickets to buy matching Sumo Slammer T-shirts.

They were walking out of the arcade, when Ben’s stomach started to create a lot of noise. ’Hmm.. I’m hungry,’ he muttered.

’Hungry?’ Clarissa stared at him. ’Don’t you guys feel hunger?’

’No, we inject ourselves with medicine that keeps us healthy for weeks. We have no need for anything else.’

’But you have a human stomach, don’t you?’

’I do, but I've never used it. I have no need for it.’

’Does that mean you can eat human food and not die?’

’It’s a possibility, but- ’

Ben had taken her to a place called „Burger Shack“, which was not far away from the arcade. The smell of the place was God-awful and the meal Clarissa was presented with seemed… barely edible.

’It looks like excrement,’ Clarissa commented.

Ben choked on his fries. ’Don’t say things like that when people are eating,’ he swallowed, ’also don’t knock it until you try it.’

Clarissa took one up and took a bite. She has never had food before, so she didn't know what to think of the taste.

Soon after, she felt her mouth heating up. Her eyes widened. ’I think I may have a bad reaction to this food. My insides are heating up!’

’That’s just the red chilli,’ Ben smiled, ’but if you’re really feeling sick, you can go to the restroom over there. I can finish your fries.’ And he proceeded to consume them.

Clarissa stood up and rant to the pointed restroom. She had no idea what to do. She has never seen a human bathroom before, therefore the inside of it seemed like a huge mystery. She was checking out the sink tap, when he heard a door get shut behind her, loudly.

Her instincts predicted nothing good. She turned to the direction of the door. ’You!’ she growled at Albedo, who was enjoying chilli fries, and glaring at the girl with a snarl.

’Thought I smelled a Lumian,’ he said as he finished his last fry, ’you make my life a lot easier, you know. Who would have guessed that Ben would end up taking you here? Tch, very predictable.’ Albedo noticed her touching her necklace. ’Tsk, tsk, you know better, Lumian. Very risky transforming in a small space, especially a building. I suggest you just give up, and come with me.’

’What makes you think I will come with you?’

’Oh, my dear naive delicate child, that’s the most idiotic question I have ever heard,’ Albedo chuckled, ’you have no choice. If you don’t come, I’ll just kill you, right here and right now.’ Clarissa gulped.

He knew. He knew that if she were to transform inside, her ship would absorb everything material in a 3 mile radius. But fortunately, she still has her telepathy. She eye-balled the room for anything to throw at Albedo. She got an idea.

’Albedo, you know what is the difference between a monster like you, and a Lumian like me?’ Albedo raised his eyebrow.

’I don’t make long speeches.’ She used telepathy to turn on the water drains and they sprayed water towards Albedo, knocking him over. Clarissa used the chance to run out of the restroom, and towrard Ben, who was cleaning his teeth. Clarissa grabbed his hand, and ran out of Burger Shack.

When they had run a significant amount of distance, Clarissa finally stopped.

’What the hell was that for?’ Ben demanded, trying to catch his breath.

’Albedo found us,’ Clarissa told him, sitting on the concrete.

’Albedo was there?’ Ben looked towards the Burger Shack, and then back to Clarissa.

’Why didn’t you just tell me?’

’You have no idea what you’re messing with here,’ Clarissa spoke, ’he may look like you, have the same habits as you, but he is still a genius, and he knows everything about my species. He knows my weaknesses, and also my strengths.’

Ben stared at the girl in silence. ’So, there is something he can use against you?’ Clarissa nodded.

’It is better if we just ran for now,’ the girl sighed.

Ben sat next to Clarissa, and they both stared at the playground, where children were playing. They just enjoyed the laughter of children, who have nothing to worry about. Clarissa thought what if she was like one of those children – nothing to worry about, no planet to save, no species to save. It’s been a long time since she had had a light heart. She couldn’t even remember those times. Her past has been erased from her mind.

’I know how hard it could be,’ Ben finally said, ’you being the only hope to save your home planet. I’ve felt that one too many times, and there have been times where I was close to failure. But look at this place now – people still living in peace and serenity.’ He turned to Clarissa. ’Don’t worry too much, ’Riss. We will find Azmuth and save your planet.’ He smiled at her, and pat on her back in comfort.

Thump. Thump. _My heart_ , Clarissa thought, _It’s beat-rate is abnormal.. What is this?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I hope.   
> I've thought countless times how to continue the story, and I've finally written something I'm satisfied with.  
> Enjoy!


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